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Hearing this, Steven smiled lightly. That was only natural. "It's not just the victory—issues surrounding Lucas's Pokémon will probably cause quite a stir as well," Steven said with a smile. Up to now, Lucas had already revealed quite a number of Legendary Pokémon to the general public.
At this point, the title of Legendary Trainer was likely to be firmly established.
After all, a Legendary Trainer was something that naturally inspired awe and amazement.
"I wonder if this year's regional tournaments will produce any promising newcomers. Though I've heard that there's a trainer who's been getting quite famous recently," Leon said after taking a sip of wine, pondering aloud. While there were already plenty of outstanding juniors, Leon would still be happy to support and guide any new exceptional trainers.
"Oh? From which region?" Lucas raised an eyebrow. Anyone who could catch Leon's attention was surely no ordinary trainer.
"Seems to be from Sinnoh?" Leon thought for a moment. "Their ranking on the Ultra Class tier ladder has been rising very quickly lately."
Cynthia froze for a moment upon hearing this. A rising star from Sinnoh? How had she not heard of it?
"You mean that Darkrai trainer, right?" Raihan recalled. Leon had mentioned this person to him before.
"A Darkrai trainer?" Lucas's eyes flickered slightly. He had some impression…
A Darkrai trainer from Sinnoh—wasn't that Darkrai's trainer, Tobias, the one who crushed Ash's championship dreams?
The Sinnoh Lily of the Valley Conference could be said to be the closest Ash had ever come to winning a championship. That generation of Ash had peak team composition and tactics, and he had even brought back his veteran Pokémon in an unprecedented move.
It was Ash's strongest obsession with the championship!
Relying on Infernape's explosive potential, Ash had even defeated his strongest rival in history, Paul.
But in the semifinals, Tobias shattered Ash's championship dream.
Just when Ash finally defeated Darkrai, Tobias sent out a Latios… an utterly despair-inducing sight.
This was undeniably the writers' sheer malice…
"You're talking about that guy? He's not that strong, is he?" Zinnia blinked her bright eyes. Darkrai was the Mythical Pokémon of nightmares, and the rarity of a Mythical or a Legendary naturally made her remember that trainer.
When she first challenged the Ultra Class tier rankings, she had fought against that trainer.
"He has more than one Legendary, doesn't he?" Leon looked at Zinnia.
To be honest, the main reason Leon had noticed Tobias was because of Darkrai.
"More than one, yes, but his Legendaries aren't particularly strong," Zinnia shook her head.
"Of course they wouldn't seem strong to you," Lucas couldn't help but laugh. A Legendary could define someone's lower limit, but how high the upper limit went still depended on the trainer.
Ash during the Sinnoh arc, at best, couldn't possibly reach Elite Four level. The gap between him and Flint, Sinnoh's Fire-type Elite Four, was obvious.
Even so, Ash's main team still managed to take down Darkrai. And after Tobias won the championship, the Elite Four challenge was taken up by Flint against Champion Cynthia.
This meant either Tobias didn't participate in the Elite Four challenge at all, or he couldn't even get past Flint.
It was safe to say Tobias topped out at Elite Four level. An Elite Four trainer facing Zinnia? He'd get utterly crushed.
Legendary Pokémon were indeed stronger than ordinary Pokémon, but under a massive level gap, even Legendaries still went down when they had to.
"I see," Leon said thoughtfully. "Not everyone is Lucas," Blue muttered, curling his lips.
Legendary Trainers also had tiers—an average one was just that, average. But the truly strong ones…
"Still, his luck is really something. You don't just casually run into a Legendary," Blue added, rubbing his temple with a headache.
He wanted to capture a Legendary too.
But at present, even the Kanto League had no confirmed sightings of Legendaries. The Legendary Birds, which once had some records, had all been captured by Team Rocket earlier this year…
The potential of Legendaries was beyond doubt. Even Pokémon like the Legendary Birds—if he could properly train one, Blue believed it could at least serve as one of his ace Pokémon.
"Speaking of Legendaries, Lucas, our previous agreement still stands, right?" Steven suddenly perked up.
"Ah, that thing? Of course it does," Lucas paused for a moment, then remembered the deal about exchanging Legendary information for Ultra Beasts.
Although Lucas now had a good relationship with Hoopa, having Hoopa forcibly summon Legendaries just so he could capture them…
That would put Hoopa in an awkward position, and such forced summoning would also leave the summoned Legendary in a bad emotional state.
"I'll send the intel to your Rotom Phone—sound good?" Steven smiled broadly, clearly in high spirits.
"???"
Red and the others looked at the two of them in confusion. What was this about?
Iris explained things to them from the side.
Blue's eyes immediately lit up!
"Sure," Lucas said, glancing at his phone. It was information on Groudon. Good grief—Steven had really found a lead?
"I remember you wanted Celesteela, right?" Lucas asked.
Without doubting the authenticity of the intel, he took a Poké Ball containing Celesteela from his bag and handed it to Steven.
"That's the one," Steven accepted the Poké Ball directly.
What he loved most were heavy, Steel-type Pokémon!
And something like Celesteela, massive in size and Steel-type, was perfectly to his taste.
"If you have more Legendary information, you can still bring it to me. I still have plenty of Ultra Beasts," Lucas said with a smile, finding Steven's delight quite amusing.
He wondered whether Steven would still be this happy if he ever went to Ultra Space and saw the sheer number of Celesteela there…
The World Championships were still ongoing, but that didn't mean regional tournaments had faded away. As time passed, regional leagues across various regions were also heating up.
Lucas wasn't particularly interested in the tournaments themselves—but he was very interested in the people participating.
…
(TN: Indigo League is now Kanto League since Johto split.)
Indigo Plateau, Indigo Stadium.
The Kanto League Tournament had now reached its finals, and today was the day the champion would be decided.
"You suddenly got interested in this too?" Green adjusted her white, delicate sunhat and glanced at Lucas beside her.
It was honestly quite amusing that this man would come to watch the Kanto League.
"Someone Lucas cares about is participating in the Kanto League," Marnie explained calmly.
"And after the Kanto League Tournament, the Elite Four Challenge will also take place. Aren't you curious who will become Kanto's Champion?" Lucas smiled noncommittally.
Yes—N had voluntarily transferred to Johto to serve as an Elite Four member, which naturally left Kanto's Champion position vacant.
Kanto's current Elite Four consisted of Red, Blue, Caitlin, Bruno, and Lorelei.
The reason Chairman Loki didn't reject N's request was, firstly, because N had proposed it himself.
Secondly, after the massive battle in Vermilion City, both Red and Blue had entered the realm of top-tier champions!
But Red and Blue were evenly matched—who would take the Champion seat?
Even Loki found the choice headache-inducing, and this Elite Four Challenge would decide it!
As for Caitlin and the others… well, they very tactfully chose not to compete for the Champion position.
At this moment, with the announcer's loud declaration, the Kanto League Tournament finals officially began.
From the players' tunnel, a blonde girl in a white dress slowly walked out.
It was Yellow.
"She's gotten stronger," Lucas smiled faintly as he watched Yellow take her position.
Because Red and Blue had been temporarily appointed as Elite Four members, they naturally couldn't participate in the Kanto League.
Green, on the other hand, had been "kidnapped" by Lucas early in the year, which resulted in this Kanto League Tournament having virtually no one capable of challenging Yellow.
As for Ash and Gary…
Not only were they eliminated before even meeting Yellow, but even if they had faced her, it would've been a complete beatdown.
Ash, who had just begun his journey this year, was far too immature to be considered a qualified trainer.
Lucas still remembered exactly how Ash was eliminated from the Kanto League Tournament—because he couldn't control Charizard!
Charizard outright ignored Ash's commands. That passive attitude turned what should've been a guaranteed victory into a loss. A trainer who couldn't even control his own Pokémon—could that really be considered qualified?
Granted, this world's Ash had experienced slightly different events and received guidance from his older brother Red, but even so, Ash's level was still nothing exceptional.
And Gary wasn't much better.
"Did you have her challenge the Kanto Elite Four?" Marnie asked as the finals began, though she quickly lost interest.
Because Yellow's opponent was completely outmatched. The champion of this final had already been decided.
For the other contestants, this Kanto League Tournament had basically been Yellow going full one-sided domination…
A straight-up sweep, including the finals.
"Whether she challenges or not is her choice. For her, this Kanto League Tournament was just about making a name for herself," Lucas shook his head.
If Red and Blue had also participated, then the Kanto League Tournament would've held some value as training for Yellow.
But now, it was simply about exposure.
Her opponents just weren't strong enough.
After winning the Kanto League Tournament, Yellow's presence would naturally enter the upper echelons of Kanto's attention, paving the way for her to eventually replace Agatha.
It didn't take long before Yellow defeated her opponent and claimed the first trophy of her life.
Standing on the podium, her pure, delicate face wore a clean smile as her gaze searched the stands expectantly.
Finally, her eyes locked onto someone.
"Big brother, I didn't let you down," Yellow murmured softly as she looked at the white-clad youth giving her a thumbs-up, her eyes shimmering slightly.
She had won the Kanto League Tournament—an absolute victory, crushing all her opponents.
The award ceremony gradually ended, but the audience in Indigo Stadium didn't leave, because…
"Miss Yellow has chosen not to participate in the Elite Four Challenge. Next up will be—"
"Kanto's currently joint first-ranked Elite Four members, Elite Four Red versus Elite Four Blue, in the Championship Match!"
The announcer's passionate, excited voice was incredibly infectious—he himself was eagerly anticipating this battle!
"WOOOOO—!"
The entire crowd erupted into applause and cheers. This championship match would determine who became Kanto's Champion!
Amidst the applause, Blue and Red slowly walked out from their respective tunnels, standing on opposite sides of the battlefield.
"A battle between Red and Blue…" Green murmured, her eyes flickering.
As someone from Pallet Town, even though she had been taken away by Ho-Oh as a child, her memories of Red and Blue were extremely vague.
Perhaps she had known them, perhaps not—but that no longer mattered.
What mattered was that these two were publicly recognized monster-level geniuses!
Their showdown was truly something to look forward to.
On the field.
Blue and Red stared at each other as the referee's announcement of the rules gradually came to an end.
"Just as I thought—you'd be standing here," Blue said slowly, tossing his Poké Ball in his hand as he lowered his head with a grin.
From childhood, this guy had always been at odds with him!
No matter what they did, they always disagreed, always clashed.
But as they grew older, the one thing they shared was their dream!
Even so, that only proved one thing—they were still rivals!
And now, they finally stood on this battlefield!
"I'll win, Blue. I'll become Kanto's Champion!" Red said, pressing down the brim of his cap. His red eyes, shadowed by the cap, stared at his closest friend and greatest rival.
Blue might not have been the strongest enemy Red had ever faced, but to Red, Blue was the most special one.
"I can't just pretend I didn't hear that," Blue grinned wider, lifting his head to meet Red's gaze. "You don't seriously think you can beat me, do you? Watch closely, Red."
"I'm not falling here!"
"Pidgeot!"
Blue's arrogant, domineering voice rang out as he threw his Poké Ball with force.
Pidgeot spread its wings and soared into the sky, eyes sharp and fierce.
The battle begins!
(AN: When people talk about Blue, they often say he's the shortest-lived, most tragic Champion in history. But from debut to the final rival battle, Blue and Red were evenly matched. Red ultimately won their championship match, but it was a hard-fought victory. After that, Red gradually pulled ahead of Blue.)
(End of Chapter)